Teens cleared in murder case file defence against lawsuit
Statements of defence have now been filed in a $900,000 lawsuit launched by the estate of Barry Boenke against two teenagers who were charged, then cleared, of his murder.
Boenke, 68, and his neighbour Susan Trudel, 50, were found dead at Trudel’s trailer near Ardrossan in the early morning of June 1, 2009, but were killed the day before. Around 6 p.m., Boenke left his home to bring a lawn mower to Trudel’s property. He was expected to be gone 10 minutes, but never returned home.
Early the next morning, an RCMP officer found the bodies at Trudel’s trailer. They had both been shot and bludgeoned.
The night Boenke and Trudel died, two 14-year-olds fled the Bosco Homes youth treatment facility about 10 kilometres away. They were apprehended by police in Edmonton while in possession of Boenke’s stolen truck. Both teens were originally charged with murder. Charges were dropped against one youth and the second was acquitted in May after his repeated confessions to undercover officers were ruled inadmissible by a judge.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2011 and is ongoing.
Both teens have filed statements of defence stating they cannot be liable for Boenke’s death because they were not involved in his killing.
“This defendant denies causing or contributing to the death of Barry Boenke,” state court documents filed by both teens.
The teen acquitted in May filed his statement of defence before his trial was complete
The statement of claim alleges the boys escaped the Bosco Homes facility and killed Boenke. It also claims Boenke’s death resulted from the negligence of various parties, including Bosco Homes and Alberta Children’s Services. The teens were wards of the province at the time.
In their own statement of defence, Bosco Homes denies any negligence and emphasized they were not incarcerating the two teens at the time they left the home. The “facility was a residential treatment centre and was not designated or intended to be a secure treatment facility, a detention facility or any type of facility for the incarceration of youths.”
The document alleges the youths were not adequately supervised and that Bosco Homes did not properly train staff to ensure troubled children under their care did not escape the facility. It alleges Bosco Homes had no policy to search for missing children and no system to “alert local residents to the danger of escapees.”
It also claims Children’s Services failed to ensure that youths under its care were adequately supervised.
The lawsuit was filed by Judy Breitkreitz, Boenke’s partner and executor of his estate.
The identities of both teens are subject to court-ordered publication bans.
After the unsuccessful prosecution against the teens, the RCMP said it wasn’t searching for other suspects.
Statements of claim contain allegations not proven in court.